Crow
by AngelAxexinf
Summary: The Cursed, as they are called, are shunned by society. They're considered evil and a menace, but Jax discovers a Cursed woman who couldn't hurt a fly, so what is he to do? He spends time with her and realizes that she's hiding dangerous secrets that could ruin both their lives.
1. Chapter 1

Fog drifted across the damp earth, the immediate path ahead lit by the faint glowing light if an old lamp.

Jax stepped over dead and decaying twigs, his hand occasionally brushing against a wet headstone. "So far, so clear," he muttered to himself, nothing interesting having come up for the past mile. Despite his annoyances, he continued on, occasionally stopping to read the name and date on a crumbled headstone.

The farther back he traveled, the older the headstones and markers in the cemetery grew. He was beginning to reach the graves that had been filled during the Plague, the epidemic that had wiped out much of the population on Coruscant. Passing yet another child's grave, he changed his course of direction and headed west, toward where a line of spindly and naked black trees stood, almost leaning against one another for support.

He stepped between the trees, sweeping his lamp from side to side. At that moment, his daily walk wasn't going so well. At first, he'd gone out to clear his head, but now Jax was coming to sorely regret his decision.

Just as he was moving to head back to town, a startled cry shot through the deep silence. He spun back around, adrenaline spiking with concern. "Hello?" he called out, his voice escaping into the heavy fog.

No answer.

Jax stood still, his barely-there breath coming out in quick puffs from his mouth. He called out into the darkness again. "Is anyone there?" He could feel eyes watching him, small, cold pinpricks racing down his spine. Jax spun around, aiming the light in another direction. A figure was highlighted in the dark, shrouded in a grey cloak and pressed behind a tree. It gasped, whipping to its left and sprinting further west. Twigs and sticks snapped loudly under as whoever it was fled the area.

"Hey!" Jax took off after whoever it was, scraggly, sharp branches belted his face. "Stop!"

They didn't stop, twisting and turning through the forest with a sort of expertise that suggested they knew their way around.

"I said _stop!_" His boots pounded against the damp leaves and earth.

The person swiveled their head. Jax watched as they went down with a surprisingly feminine yelp.

He quickly closed the space between them. Just as the hooded person scrambled upward, Jax's full weight brought them both to the ground. A knee slammed into his stomach as she squirmed to get away—yes, the runner was _most definitely_ female; he could feel softness under his chest and hand.

Jax almost lurched backward. "I'm not trying to hurt you—"

"Get off of me!" she yelled, bringing up another knee into his groin.

He groaned and shifted his weight off of her. "Wait! I don't want to—" She kicked his kneed and he was down again. The woman was up and running again, a feather floating in the humid air before Jax as he took off after her. A new rush of adrenaline pumped through Jax, erasing the throbbing pain in his knee.

It was too late; he'd lost her.

He continued on anyway through the forest, following the trail of broken branches and crushed underbrush.

And feathers.

The smallest trickle of trepidation crawled down Jax's spine and into his stomach, settling heavily like a metal ball.

There were more feathers the farther along he went. He'd long since lost the lamp, but his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Jax followed the sleep back feathers that marked the direction the woman had gone in. He stepped lightly, barely making a sound in the already silent burned forest.

Through the wet black trees, he could see a small clearing, only a few meters wide. A small cave made of boulders and tangled tree roots stood parallel to him. Two blankets were set up in the cave, one folded on top of the other. In the middle was a shallow fire pit, and he could see frayed ropes strung between gaunt branches. Tattered clothing ad under things hung limply on the ropes, nowhere near dry in the humid air.

And in the center, she sat with her back to him, crouched over the fire pit. Her grey cloak had been removed and hung from one of the ropes.

From Jax's position, he had a clear view of the woman's back and arms. He had a _clear_ view of the black feathers that hung from her pale skin.

The small fear he'd felt earlier tripled and writhed uneasily in the pit of his gut.

The feathers were sparse, but they were _there._

She was Cursed.

Jax's heart leaped into his throat, perspiration dampening the palms of his hands. The Cursed were never welcome in any town or on any planet, their feathers, horns, claws, and othermalformations marking them monsters of society. His sweaty hand gripped the rough tree bark as he slowly shifted his body away from behind the tree. Every muscle in his body pulled taught when he rested his boot on the ground.

The Cursed ones were unpredictable and violent, so he'd been told—and taught. They were always dangerous and were not to be trusted.

Any and all Cursed were either to be turned in to the authorities or killed.

Jax shifted his weight to his other foot, craning his neck to get a better look.

A twig snapped.

The woman spun around with a gasp, whatever she'd been holding clattering to the ground. She screamed, loudly and piercingly, and frantically tried to scoot backwards against the dead leaves and stones on the ground. "No! Stay away from me! Stay away—"

Her reaction made him jump. "I'm not trying to hurt you," Jax said, stepping out in the open. He put his hands up on either side of his head. "I'm not armed; I won't—"

She screamed again and pressed herself against the rough rock wall of the cave. "Please don't hurt me! I'll pack up and go, I promise! Just don't hurt me!"

He could hear the woman's hyperventilation from across the clearing. He took careful steps toward her, keeping his hands away from his body, where she could see them. Humid, cold air stuck to the thin layer of sweat on his skin. Dead foliage crunching under his boots was the only thing heard above her heavy breathing.

"Listen." Jax hoped the slight stern edge in his voice would at least get her to calm down. "I _won't hurt you._"

She looked at him, eyes wide with fear. Trembles shook her body as her screams momentarily stopped. "You…" Her voice was soft, but her fear rang loudly. "You can do whatever you want to me, but please don't kill me."

Jax stop dead in place, his eyes boring straight into the woman's. A new sense of dread took over the fear in his stomach, one that nauseated him and left his throat dry. He didn't know what exactly it was that had made him freeze—the fact she was not as fierce and terrifying as the stories about the Cursed said was, by itself, shocking and confusing.

But the fact that she had said "do whatever you want to me" and _meant_ was worrying frightening.

Jax's subconscious mind noted the shiver that raced down his back and under his skin. His ears picked up the noises of the forest; tiny things he wouldn't have noticed had adrenaline not been pulsing in his veins. Somewhere off to his left, a small creature skittered through the underbrush, and beetled clicked to each other from the trees. Moisture gathered on the twisted branches and pooled in small droplet, hanging precariously at the tips before falling to the ground.

All of these things he heard, but he couldn't hear the almost breathless noises of the terrified woman.

Jax softened his voice, searching her face. "I promise I won't hurt you, alright?" He took two steps forward, noticed her recoil, and stopped advancing. "I'm not going to touch you."

The woman spread her fingers apart, moving her hands away from her face. Small parts of the fear that covered her features ebbed away. A new look of wariness stretched through her eyes. She changed her position against the wall, leaning forward slightly. Scuffed and dirty hands pressed firmly against the slick walls of the small cave. Her eyes flickered to his side, and she lurched backward.

He stood in confusion before he remembered the DC-15 blaster at his side. Slowly, so she could track his movements, he placed his hand on the holster.

She gasped and pressed herself against the cave wall again.

"I won't hurt you," Jax said, drawing the blaster. "I'm not going to hurt you. Remember I promised that?"

"Y-You lied!" She started shaking again, her hands flying up to cover her face as her breathing quickened.

Jax dropped the blaster on the ground, the weapon falling with a clatter. He kicked it to the side, where it landed under a bare bush. "See? I'm not armed; I won't hurt you." That seemed to be all he was saying. Jax took a few more steps toward her, aware that the small feathers on her arms were beginning to puff outward.

_Cursed_.

Anxiety pricked his innards, although he wasn't sure what had elicited the reaction. Jax was only a meter away from her now, hands still up and on either side of his shoulders. "I won't hurt you," he said softly. From his position in front of her, he could see her eyes clearly despite how dim it was under the cave. Small specks of gold lined the outer edges of her purple irises. The woman had no pupil, but the sclera of her eyes were clear and white.

And in the light cast from the full moon above, Jax could see that her skin was not a deathly pale color like he'd originally assumed—she was blue, pale blue, to be exact. She wasn't human. He wasn't exactly sure of the species, but as far as he could tell, she was humanoid.

For a few moments, neither of them moved. Past her matted, dirty hair, and dry, mud covered skin, she was almost…attractive. Something lurched and fluttered in Jax's chest. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

She still sat and stared at him. He could feel her eyes studying every feature of his face, slowly tracing over every part of his body. Jax was sure he had no other weapons on him other than a vibroblade—but that was in his boot. She couldn't see it.

"What's your name?" she said suddenly.

"Huh?" He hadn't been paying attention. Something about her eyes—

"Name." Her voice had a certain smoothness to it that caught Jax off guard. He couldn't quite shake the mental image of all Cursed being rough, muscular, and ugly. "What's your name?" The majority of her fear had been replaced with caution.

"Oh…I'm Jax." Jax's arms slowly lowered to his sides. "What's, um…what's yours?" Already, his shyness and lack of class around females was beginning to show.

The woman was silent for a moment, seemingly chewing over the decision. Then, she spoke. "Kiki."

Jax suddenly didn't know what to do; he could leave, or he could report her as the law said she should. "Are you hungry?" The completely random question startled the both of them. He felt his face begin to burn. "I have a few ration bars, if you like."

Kiki stared for a moment, then slowly nodded her head. "Yes, please."

Jax reached into his back pocket and pulled out the dry, plasti-wrapped food bar. He half stepped forward, holding it out. The silvery wrapper crinkled in his fingers. "Here."

Kiki examined the package before snatching it from his hand. She hastily pulled off the wrapping and forced half the bar into her mouth, not even cringing at the bland taste.

Jax cautiously closed the last meter of space between them. He crouched under the low ceiling of the cave and huddled by the wall on the right, a good meter away from Kiki. He watched as she finished the ration bar, crumbs scattered across her mouth. It was bland, dry, tasteless and almost completely texture-less, but Kiki had practically swallowed it whole. She looked at him expectantly until he gave her another one.

"You're going to turn me in, aren't you?" she said, her gaze intense and boring into his.

Jax looked away. "That's what the law says." He immediately wanted to punch himself in the gut for saying it, but it was true. If he didn't turn her in and it was discovered that he knew there was a Cursed woman roaming about, he faced a court-martialing and definite prison time.

Kiki scowled, throwing the wrapper on the ground with slightly shaking fingers. He realized she wasn't shaking entirely out of fear; it was cold out. She rubbed her arms, wincing as her hand passed over a scrape. "I won't let you do that." She shivered, but there was a solid determination in her words.

He sat in silence for a moment. The Cursed were to be turned in to authorities no matter what, although the only thing Kiki had done—as far as he knew—was squatting on public property.

"Please don't turn me in." Kiki looked at Jax, her lips pursed. "I'll leave and I'll take everything I have with me."

Jax didn't say anything, instead choosing to eye the frayed ropes with dirty clothing, the dented pot and bowls that lay strewn on the ground, and the little cave the woman beside him was forced to call home. His senses of guilt and compassion were at war with his senses of duty and fear. Kiki shouldn't have to be forced to live in such a way—no one should have—but getting in trouble with the law was not something he wanted to risk.

"I haven't done anything wrong," Kiki mumbled when the silence became unbearable.

"How have you been eating?" Jax asked, pinching and invisible flaw on the knee of his pants.

She features twisted as if she'd been offended, and Jax instantly felt guilty. "I didn't steal food. Most Cursed don't steal food."

"There are other Cursed here?"

"Of course."

Jax stared into the line of black trees. The full moon above cast a strange glow on the plants around them. It would be spring soon, and everything would be covered in a multitude of bright greens.

"I'm not turning you in." Jax gazed up at the bright, round moon, mentally tracing the slight differences in its surface.

"What?" Kiki's head spun toward him. "You're not?" The third ration bar was momentarily forgotten in her hand.

He shook his head. "I'll figure something out, but I'm not turning you in; you haven't done anything." Jax sighed, a puff of vapor hovering in the air before him. He didn't notice how much the temperature had dropped. It must have been close to midnight.

Jax jumped up without warning, almost slamming his head on the ceiling of the cave. "_Osik_, I missed curfew— sorry…" he said when Kiki yelped at his outburst.

"Will you get into trouble?" she asked, tightening her grip on her arms. Her eyes traveled to the blankets on the ground.

"Yes, but there are others who stay out drinking all night…" he trailed, following her eyes. For a moment, he looked down at the standard issue sweater he was currently wrapped in. Before Jax could change his mind, he pulled the sweater over his head and tossed it ungracefully into Kiki's lap. "Use that to keep warm…" he said, feeling his face flush with red. He was now standing in a grey short-sleeved shirt, goose bumps rising on his tanned skin. His hands rubbed his arms up and down. Jax's eyes were already scanning everywhere but Kiki as his typical shy personality started to appear.

Kiki stared at the sweater in her lap, pinching the thick grey fabric between her fingers. She looked up at Jax, trying and failing to meet his eyes. "You want me to have this?" she asked, unbelieving. Her brows drew together, lips puckering at the thought of receiving something that wasn't meant to hurt her.

It only then occurred to Jax that Kiki might not have ever been given a gift before—if that was what the sweater could be called. Something in him twisted, painfully sharp and hard. "Yeah. Keep it. It's a little big, but…"

Kiki's face twisted into a strange mix of uncertainty and fear. She pulled the hem over her head, struggling a bit with the sleeves, but managed to get the sweater on. Stretching her arms out before her, she examined her wrists, where the sleeves went up to her palms. The shirt was baggy, and the collar hung down a bit low. Her features re-twisted into something else.

Jax's gut sank. She didn't like it. He didn't know why that had upset him so much, but Kiki's not liking the sweater meant—

"Thank you…" Her voice was soft and almost shy—suggesting that she'd never accepted a gift before. A smile slowly formed on her lips until it reached her eyes, making her skin glow despite the dirt. "It's…It's nice. Thank you, Jax." She immediately curled into herself, pulling her knees up to her chest.

Jax's entire body flushed with warmth, temporarily erasing the goose bumps on his arms. "Oh. I'm glad you like it." He shuffled in place, toeing a small pebble. Again, his gaze caught on the damp clothing, dented and broken bowls, and meager area in general Kiki was forced to call home. "I'll…see you again?"

Kiki's head snapped up, and for a second Jax thought that she must have been falling asleep. "You're going to come back?" An odd combination of hope and fear rippled on the surface of her words. "That would be…" She didn't finish her sentence.

Jax didn't know when things had suddenly become awkward for them. Up above, the moon hung heavily in the sky, casting its white light on the land. "I need to get going," he rushed out.

"I think it's one in the morning by now." Kiki tried to look awake, but her lids were drooping heavily over her purple irises. With slightly sluggish movements, she spread out a grey, thin blanket on the cold ground. "You don't want to be late…good night…" The second blanket, light blue with darker blue spots, was wrapped around her shoulders.

Jax felt guilty for leaving Kiki in the middle of the empty forest. He was by the edge of the clearing when he heard her voice call out to him.

"Jax?" Her gaze was intense. "Thanks. For the food and the sweater." She smiled again, lighting her eyes up.

His gut curled in a weird way, making Jax immediately wrap his arm around it. "Y-You're welcome." And there was the stutter.

Kiki finally closed her eyes, rolling over to face the cave wall. Her body sagged as she fell asleep.

A small part of Jax knew just abandoning Kiki was wrong as he made his way back through the forest. His boots crunched on sticks, his hand occasionally brushing away a branch. His mind was made up: he would see her again. Bring more food, maybe even some blankets and a sleeping bag.

This wouldn't be the last time Jax saw Kiki. Deep down, he was determined to make her life better.

* * *

_I've had this word document sitting here for a while. I originally started writing _Crow _during class when I was supposed to be paying attention to the lesson (I couldn't help myself). But, at last, here it is! I've only a vague idea what I'm going to do in the next chapter, but it'll come out._

_Reviews and comments would be appreciated! _

_**AAx**_


	2. Chapter 2

It was night time, the gibbous moon casting a white light on the black trees that surrounded the clearing. Footsteps crunched on the dead leaves below foot, causing small animals to scurry out of their path.

Kiki was crouched over the fire pit, poking the small flames until they crackled ad burst into life. She didn't hear Jax until he cleared his throat. Yelping, she leaped to her feet, ready to run until she saw who it was.

Jax stood awkwardly at the edge of the clearing, partially shrouded in darkness. He stepped into the light, a small smile stretching on his lips. "I didn't mean to startle you…" He shuffled forward a few more meters until he stood in the center of the clearing.

She relaxed, her face slightly colored in wonder. "You came again," she said. Taking a step closer, Kiki looked to the duffel bag in his hand. Did this mean he liked, or at least tolerated her? Normally, whenever someone visited, it was never with the intention of coming back, and the motive behind their visit was always negative.

But Jax _came back_, and there was the smile on his face when they're eyes met. Kiki decided those were the primary traits of a friend, if not one in the making. "What's this?" She only then noticed the straps that were looped through his fist.

"What? Oh yeah. I…figured you needed some more things, so…" Jax held out the bag, a few oblong objects stretching out the dark grey fabric. "There's food and some clothes. And there's a fire starter kit and mouth wash and some sanitary…" He paused when Kiki didn't take the bag. "Is something wrong?" he asked, hoping he hadn't somehow offended her. Maybe she was too proud to accept help? He thought about how long it had taken him to acquire some of the supplies, how he'd gotten his hopes up when he imagined what Kiki's gratitude might have looked like. Would she have smiled brightly? Cried? Hugged him?

Rejection wasn't something Jax had considered.

"I…this is really nice, Jax." He voice, heavy with gratitude and maybe tears, was soft as she took the bag and sat directly on the ground with it. Working the zipper over some lumps, Kiki began pulling out rolled clothing, then small packages of food, blankets, and mouthwash—he'd even found supplies for her more feminine needs.

Jax slowly sat down on the damp ground across from Kiki. When she looked up, his face was a strange shade of dark pink. "Sorry it's taken me so long to get back, I…I had trouble finding some things and…" he stammered, his eyes beginning to travel to the rocks that lined the edges of the clearing. Suddenly too embarrassed to speak, his voice trailed off into his fingers as he covered his mouth with his fist.

Kiki watched his strange behavior. He was cross-legged on the ground but hunched over, his shoulders crowding his ears. He refused to look at her.

Had she lost a friend already? She always took refused eye contact and silence as someone not wanting to be acquainted with her—it was all she'd ever seen her whole life. Although deeply saddened that this could be the last time she saw Jax, she forced her voice to remain happy. In a way, Kiki was; she had food and soap and so many things she hadn't used for such a long time. It was hard _not_ to be excited.

"Thank you," she said softly, pulling out a pink-and-green package. There was a smiling cartoon woman on the front, but other than that she had no clue what it was. She narrowed her eyes, trying to read the darker-green words on the front. _C-L-E-A— _Kiki gave up, setting the package on the side and pulling out plasti-wrapped food.

Jax watched her silently, chin in hand. She looked like a child opening birthday gifts; she quickly unwrapped and examined each item before moving on to the next, carefully setting each aside. Her smile, although a little damp, made her purple irises light up and glow. "What's wrong?" he asked, removing his hand from his mouth. After the first few items Kiki had fallen silent.

"Hm? Oh, nothing's wrong," she answered quietly. She was almost done with the duffel bag, different colored packages forming small piles around her. Despite what she said, she didn't look at him, her hands wrapped tightly around a bottle of water.

"Kiki, what's wrong?" Jax's back straightened as he looked at her with concern. "Is there something in there you don't like? Is there something I forgot, or…" He considered reaching out to her, but kept his hands to himself.

"No, no, it's…" How did one ask if they had a friend? Jax's willingness to talk again confused her. "You're…we're friends, right, Jax?"

Jax coked his head to the left. "Friends?" Where had that come from? He regretted the question when he saw Kiki duck her head, her chin almost to her chest.

"I-It's just," she muttered, running her finger along the smooth edge of the bottle, "you said you would come back, and you did. You…you brought me things and you talked to me. That's what friends do, right?" She sounded hurt.

Jax didn't say anything for a moment. Very slowly, he crawled around the pile and sat next to her. "Kiki, we're friends, alright? I…don't' know what kind of environment you grew up in, but you can trust me." Gently, he rested his hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but didn't pull away. Jax took that as a sign that she wasn't quite ready to be touched. "Okay?"

Kiki nodded, her smile returning. "Yeah, okay Jax." She looked at him, her eyes bright as the moon above them. "I've never had a friend before."

"You haven't?"

"No."

Kiki began packing everything up again, only managing to half-zip the duffel bag again. "What else do friends do?"

"They hang out, I guess." Jax stood when Kiki did. She forced herself not to skip as she went to the small cave and placed the bag under its low roof. She came back to stand in front of him, a sweater in hand.

"Would," she said, wringing her hands in front of her, "would we be able to do that? _Hang out_, I mean."

It was strange, seeing a grown woman act so shy and insecure. Even stranger was the sound of Kiki wrangling with idioms.

Jax barely managed to suppress his smile. He was sure the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards. "Yeah, if I had the time. My profession doesn't really allow me to take much time off."

Kiki nodded. "Okay, I look forward to it. Are…you leaving now? I…I washed your sweater and dried it over the fire." She handed the fabric to him, head ducked under her hair.

"Thank you, Kiki," he said. He took it and held it under his arm. "About my leaving…" Jax's face twisted into something like slight apprehension and moderate discomfort. "About that, Kiki…" His hands reached out again, this time, clasping her biceps. He was gentle, but he could still see the alarm rising in her eyes. Slowly, he rubbed her arms up and down to calm her. "I don't want you to run away—"

"Why? What's happening?" Panic was starting to make her voice tremor. "Is something wrong—"

"I decided it would be nice if you met some of my friends, Kiki," Jax said, gripping her arms tighter when she started to try to pull away. "There's nothing to be afraid of—"

"You brought people here?!" Kiki's chest began to heave as she struggled to fight her way out of Jax's grip. "They're going to kill me! You want to try to kill me—"

"They won't! I promise, Kiki, that they won't hurt you!" Instead of letting her free, he pulled her closer, close enough that they were almost touching. Jax lowered his voice, so soft that Kiki could barely hear. "I'm going to protect you, alright? These people are not going to hurt; they'd have to get through me first."

"Jax, everything okay over there?" a deep voice yelled. A head poked through the line of trees, bald like Jax, glancing around the small clearing with a slight look of disdain.

Jax didn't know if it was because of the man's deep voice, or maybe the sudden appearance of another person, but Kiki when stiff, a small yelp caught in her throat as if staying still enough and quiet enough would make her invisible. Eyes wide and filled with terror, she locked eyes with him.

"I-I-I—" she stammered, choking on her words. "I-It's a…a man. H-How many of them are men, Jax?"

"Kiki…" Jax pursed his lips, unsure of how to answer. Did she have a fear of males? But she'd opened up to him relatively quickly—unless it was because he'd had food on him.

"Tell me, Jax!" she hissed, words shaking almost violently. Her eyes shifted back and forth between him and the face that watched them.

"All of them. They're all men."

"And you say they're not going to hurt me?!" Her face was a mask of terror and fear.

"Kiki, I don't know what it was that happened between you and other men, but these are good people. They will not lay a hand on you without your permission." Jax didn't know what had happened to make her fear so much—and he had a feeling he didn't want to—but a sense of protectiveness was already rising in his gut.

With tiny, shuffling steps, he spun them so Kiki's back was to the line of trees.

"Take a deep breath, Kiki," Jax said, having gone back to rubbing her arms instead of gripping them. "You'll be _fine_."

She forced her breathing through her nose, but she nodded. Jax turned her around, hands on her shoulders. "You need to open your eyes, Kiki."

She opened her eyes and audibly swallowed.

"You can come out now!" Jax called to the trees. More heads poked between the trees until they formed bodies, and those bodies walked into the clearing and gathered in front of the pair.

On instinct, Kiki yelped and jumped to hide behind Jax. It was useless; they were about the same height, his shoulders only broader. Kiki's fingernails dug into the skin under his shirt as she trembled behind him.

The men stood in a small group, all the exact same height, with the exact same brown eyes and _exact_ same faces.

"You're a soldier…" Kiki whispered, a new depth of horror in her voice. "You _did _come to kill me…"

Jax tried to catch her before she tried to run, but she jumped out of his grasp. "Kiki, don't—"

"No! Stay away from me!" she screamed, backing herself into the cave. She couldn't believe that she'd lost a friend so quickly already, after everything Jax had said and everything he'd done to try to make her happy.

"Kiki, I'm not going to kill you!" Jax fought to keep her voice down. One of the men in the group tried to take a step forward.

"If you want us to—"

"No, stay back! She's afraid of you, just stay over there!" Jax turned back around to face Kiki, hands out in front of him.

It took twenty minutes to calm her down enough to stand again. She was now standing next to Jax rather than behind him, her hands pinching his right arm to a point where he was beginning to lose feeling.

"They're going to come up one at a time now, and introduce themselves," Jax said. "Just take a deep breath; you don't have to say anything."

Kiki nodded mutely, watching as the first man came up to them. He was bald like Jax, the only thing to set them apart a scar on his jaw.

"I am Edger," he said with a slightly gruff voice. He stood up straight, tone and attitude formal, but Kiki didn't miss the look of disgust in his eyes. He held out his large hand.

Kiki yelped, hanging on to Jax's arm even tighter. She stared at the outstretched hand before quickly taking it and squeezing. Edger squeezed back too hard. Kiki flexed her hand when he finally let go.

"Easy on the grip, Edger," Jax hissed, giving him a look. He nodded to the next man to step forward.

"My name is Ratchet," he said, also holding out his hand. Despite his tough-ish shark fin haircut with red streaks in it, he had a soft voice. When Kiki heard the slight hesitance in his voice she got the feeling he didn't talk much.

Kiki took Ratchet's hand, glad his handshake was soft. He stepped to the back of the group.

The next man to come up had pale, almost-pupiless ice-blue eyes that made Kiki shiver. His voice was low and deep when he spoke, and he had perfect diction. "I am Cord." He shook Kiki's hand firmly but gently, with a short nod.

The next man, Kiki decided, had a kind face. There were laugh lines around his eyes despite how young he was. When he went up to her, he smiled gently. "Hello, my name is Marik," he said with a friendly tone. Marik's spiky hair clashed with his friendly personality. "Did you like what you got in the care package? I helped with that." He smiled again, this time brighter, as he waited for Kiki's answer.

"I-I…yes, I did. That was very kind of you, Marik," she said shyly. Never had she met a man that was kind to her. Kiki spared a glance back to the duffel bag that waited in her little cave.

"Is it alright if they stay for a little bit?" Jax looked to Kiki. "If you don't want to get to know them just yet, they can leave now."

Kiki chewed her lip. She was hurt that Jax hadn't told her something so significant, but he cared about her enough to try and get her some friends. She looked back to the five men in front of her, all watching expectantly with varying degrees of neutrality.

"T-They can stay," she decided. "I'll even show them where the creek is. Sometimes in the spring, when it's warm out and the little blue beetles are hatching, I catch a fish. I don't always have the materials I need, but…" she trailed off, shifting again to stand behind Jax.

"Do you know what kind of fish it was?" Marik seemed to be the only one willing to share more than three words with her.

A startled expression crossed her face before she quickly recovered. "I think it was silver, with a blue stripe down its sides."

"Can I fish with you in the spring? I might be able to bring my own supplies."

Jax had forgotten about Marik's lack of sensitivity. He was often slightly too loud or too fast when it came to certain things, or asked the first question on his mind. Marik tended to speak with childlike bluntness. He was ready to answer when Kiki spoke up for herself.

"T-That would be nice. The…the rest of you could come too, if you wanted." Spring wasn't for another month and a half, but Jax had faith that Kiki would be at least a little bit comfortable with them by then. He was glad she was opening up so quickly.

He was even gladder, however, that she was making an effort to be more open to people. By the time Marik and Kiki were starting to get chatty, she had completely let go of Jax's arm.

* * *

**This is a while in coming, and I apologize for that. But! Here, we have Kiki meeting what is soon to be Crusade Squad (well, soon enough, at least).**

**Review, comment, critique, etc. Anything is appreciated!**

**~AAx**


	3. Chapter 3

They came again, and this time the sky was a little bit brighter—afternoon. Slowly but surely, the air in the West forest was warming up with the signs of spring; there were small buds poking through the black ends of the healthier trees, and small shoots of grass sprung up through the dark earth. The nights would still be chilly, but less so than in winter.

The silver-and-blue fish had come early this year, and they rested in the shallow waters of small brooks and streams. Their yellow tails flicked back and forth with the currents, kicking up small amounts of much and decomposed leaves.

Kiki stepped over a fallen log, Marik beside her. The two had been chatting amiably for the duration of the trip to the streams.

"What's it like, living here?" he asked. "Do you ever run out of what you need?"

"Sometimes," she answered. "But most of the time, I'm okay." Kiki seemed to be fine with Marik's rapid-fire questions. They continued to chatter as they walked ahead of the group, the rest trailing behind.

Edger wrinkled his nose as he stepped over a log, his eyes boring into Kiki's shoulders. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Jax once they'd gotten back to the barracks, and Jax's reasoning that was—in his mind—completely off.

Jax shot him a silent warning, pushing a branch out of the way. The greenness of the forest was starting to get heavier. Only small patches of bright sunlight filtered through the trees. "Get over it, Edger."

Edger met it with his own look. "She's _Cursed_, Jax. She should be in prison—"

"She hasn't _done_ anything," he hissed. Up ahead, Kiki gave no indication that she heard what they were saying. She moved with a surety that could only come to those who'd spent much of their lives in a forest like this.

His face grew darker, eyes set forward in a stubborn glare. "You don't know that," Edger shot back. "All the Cursed are the same—they steal, lie, cheat, and hurt others when they can't get what they want—"

"She couldn't even look at you when you first met!" Jax stepped into Edger's path, blocking him with his body. "I've spoken to her, and she rarely goes into the city; too many people there, Edger. You can't just assume one person is like everyone else because other people like them get a bad rap."

Edger didn't try to step around Jax. "You've seen the Cursed we bring in, Jax. They're drug addicts and they attack everything in sight. They're _violent_."

"They're _scared._" Edger was Jax's best friend, but sometimes his closed-mindedness wore Jax down. "They shouldn't be treated the way they are."

Edger didn't try to fight back, instead pushed past Jax to continue on with the rest of the group; they'd fallen behind. After a moment, Jax followed silently, his boots crunching on sticks and leaves.

The group eventually came upon a stream a few meters wide, where sunlight speckled the gently rippling surface and silver fish darted along the bottom. The water was clear, revealing the sticks and rocks along the bed.

None of the clones had ever been fishing before—it showed when they all suddenly stopped at the water's edge and looked around with varying degrees of confusion and wonder on their faces.

"I sometimes go swimming here in the summer," Kiki blurted into the silence. She quickly averted her gaze to her feet, letting her hair fall over her face.

Marik's eyes lit up at the thought of swimming in streams. "You do? What's it like?" He set down the fishing rod on the ground.

"Well…" Her eyes skimmed over the surface of the stream. "It's colder than you would think, but you eventually get used to it." Kiki didn't quite look at him, but a smile was beginning to form on her lips.

"I've always wondered what it was like to go swimming like that." He picked up the rod again, fiddling with the reel. "Do you have a swimsuit, or—" He cut himself off at Kiki's squeak, his ears beginning to burn.

"U-Uh…" Kiki's face was equally as red. "I don't really have—"

"No, no f-forget I asked!" Marik rushed out, avoiding eye contact. A heavy, awkward silence fell between them.

From somewhere farther down the stream, Cord sighed. He made his way back towards the group, taking Marik's rod and handing it to Kiki. "How do you fish?"

Kiki looked to the rod, then to the stream. Taking the fishing pole, she took a few steps toward the water. "It's best if you aim toward the center, because that's where the bigger ones are," she said. "Where's the bait?"

Edger looked from the bait box in his hand to Kiki and back. His face started to sour all over again. With a huff, Jax snatched the box from him and went to hand it to Kiki.

His sudden presence beside her made her jump. "Oh, Jax, I didn't see you."

"I didn't mean to startle you, Kiki," he apologized.

Her smile was soft. "It's alright, Jax. Did you need something?"

Jax froze for just a second, a feeling he was nowhere near used to. "U-Uh…" he stammered, his hand tightening around the handle. "Here's the bait, if you need it."

"Oh, thank you," Kiki said, accepting the small box. Jax only nodded mutely and followed her to the wide stream.

The water reflected the bright sunlight, making the surface look as if it were made of crystal. Small fish swam just below the surface while beetles skimmed over small ripples. The budding trees rustled in the wind and sent a warm breeze through the forest.

Kiki held the rod in her hand, trying to get the bait onto the hook. The breeze blew some of her hair in her face. "If this doesn't work," she said, "we'll just use beetle larvae—they're under the leaves of the purple bushes."

"There is a set of instructions that came with the bait box," Cord said from somewhere down the stream. He had his own rod already cast, its bobber floating lazily in the water. "Maybe it will tell you which hook is best to use for this depth."

Jax thought he must have been imagining the sudden look of nervousness that quickly crossed Kiki's face, but it was there. She fumbled with the plastoid card that had various hooks and their uses with it.

"U-Um…" she stammered. "It looks like…we should just use the hook we already have tied on—the, uh, m-medium depth…yeah. That's the one we'll use." Her face was turning red, the card gripped tightly in her hands.

"Which one is it?" Ratchet asked.

Kiki's lips pursed, her narrowed eyes scanning the card. "The…this one. Yeah, this one. We already have it on the rods," she rushed out.

Cord gave Kiki a look before turning back to the stream.

Jax didn't like the looks everyone was giving Kiki. Edger's mouth twisted, his brows drawing down into a scowl. "Does the card say how far out to cast it, or do you need help with that as well?" He said deridingly, yanking the rod out of her hand.

Kiki shot him a cold glare. "Shut up." She snatched it back with more force than any of them thought she could use and stalked away to a spot farther down the stream.

Jax only watched in surprise. It seemed the ever-terrified, shaking Kiki was replaced with one who would be sworn enemies with Edger. The rest also had looks of wonder on their faces as they silently watched Kiki cast into the stream

Jax stormed over to Edger. "The hell was that for?!" he hissed, pulling him roughly away from the water's edge.

"I was only asking a simple question, Jax," Edger said, jerking his arm away. "She's just like all the other Cursed—"

"_Edger." _Jax gave him a warning look.

Edger huffed. "She's an _idiot,"_ he spat. "Just like the rest of her kind. How much do you think she's stolen in her life? She might have lied to you about it."

Jax only glared, unwilling to put up with Edger's narrow-mindedness.

Kiki re-cast the rod, watching baited hook make a light _plunk_ as it hit the water. Smaller fish scattered underneath it. The brightly-colored bobber floated gently in place, so she focused on that instead of the burning shame that made her feel sick inside. She didn't think Jax would want to see her again after what had just happened, and to be honest, she wouldn't be surprised if it were true.

Already, five people that could have been her friends were lost.

"How…big are the fish, normally?" Marik asked, coming to stand next to her.

"I don't know, about…from my hand to here," Kiki said, pointing to the middle of her forearm. "They're salty on their own, so all we need to do is cook them."

"Do you know how to grill?"

"Sort of, yes."

"Good!" Marik clapped his hands together, a bright smile on his face. "'Cause we brought some vegetables and lighter fluid—"

"Marik forgot the plates!" Edger yelled.

"—and we were hoping this could turn into some kind of…family picnic?" It was a bit strong a term, "family picnic", but Marik couldn't think of anything else. The other clones were his family, and if Kiki wanted to join in she was more than welcome to.

Kiki blinked, as if she hadn't quite heard what he'd said. Family? As in with siblings and mothers and fathers? Were they that close already? Nonetheless, Kiki smiled brightly. "Sure! I can make the fire bigger if we have to—and I also go new plates," she said, nodding enthusiastically.

"I-I think I got one!" Ratchet yelled, his rod bending with the pull of the fish. With a loud splash, a twisting and turning fish hung in the air at the end of Ratchet's line, its gills twitching frantically. The smile on his face was wide and proud.

The rest of the soldiers gathered round to congratulate him as Kiki examined the fish. "Sorry, Ratchet; this one's too small." She pinched its gills down, removing the hook from its cheek. The fish had slowed in its struggling. "See? It still has this line on its fins. It's a baby."

Ratchet looked truly saddened. "Do we throw it back?" he asked.

Kiki nodded. "It'll still live, don't worry." She tossed the fish back into the water. "You can just cast again. Try to aim for deeper spots, because that's where the bigger fish are."

Ratchet nodded, casting the hook and bobber out into the water again. It hit the surface with a light _plunk_, rings of small waves radiating out from it.

OoOoOoO

"I'd say that went better than I thought." Marik practically skipped along, the rod rested on his shoulder and a bucket of fish in hand. "I didn't think I'd enjoy myself so much!"

Only Marik would have been able to fine excitement in throwing back twelve fish that were too small.

"What do you think these'll taste like?" He'd never had fish before, so his curiosity was getting the best of him and it was showing in the way he blabbed. "I always imagined fish would taste something like nuna."

"Not everything can taste like nuna, Marik," Edger sighed, pulling up behind him. He carried a second bucket with small shellfish. They tried and failed to escape the confines of the bucket.

"Did you know Kiki had used a stick and wire she'd found to go fishing before we brought her this stuff? Imagine that: having to find a stick that was long and strong enough and then having to rip it out of the water all the time." Marik frowned. "She said she couldn't catch that many fish that way."

Jax was amazed at how quickly Kiki had warmed up to Marik. They were becoming fast friends, and it was great that she wasn't so afraid of them anymore, but he didn't quite like the feeling he got whenever he saw the two of them together—it was _not_ jealousy, he was quite sure of that. He kind of wished she were with them now instead of back at her site starting a fire for their barbeque. The twigs and leaves snapped under his feet, the only sounds in the forest for a moment while the entire group fell silent.

It was quickly interrupted by a short scream, followed by a loud cry for help. Then there was shouting coming from ahead of them, in the direction of Kiki's campsite.

"Kiki?" Marik took off without so much as a warning. Crashing through trees and bushes, the screams and sounds of struggling got louder and more frantic as the group came upon Kiki's campsite. Marik dropped the bucket and rod, drawing his blaster and taking aim at one of the figures in the center of the clearing.

"Go away! Get off of me!" Kiki shrieked, kicking her hardest at the Weequay male that pinned her to the dirt ground.

"Don't fight; I mean no harm," he said in response, a vicious smile curling on his thin lips. "You just looked so lonely here…"

"Help!" Kiki screamed, continuing to struggle under his weight. "Get away from me!"

Jax was the first to break through the line of trees surrounding the clearing, his blaster drawn and aimed at the Weequay's back. Even from where he was, Jax could see what the Weequay's hands were doing, and it made his gut curl in disgust. "Get away from her!"

The Weequay rolled over, jumping to his feet and holding his gnarled hands in the air. The moonlight highlighted every uneven patch on him, the rough, scaly grey-brown skin of his face forming odd shadows over his features. "I didn't mean any harm," he said. "She said she was lonely and was afraid of some soldiers in the forest coming to get her." He shot a look to the other clones coming into the clearing. "Now I see what she means."

"Step away from her," Marik said, blaster also drawn. He slowly inched forward, the muzzle of his weapon aimed at the man's chest.

Kiki was frozen to the ground, shaking and too scared to look at any of them. Her chest rose and fell in frantic puffs. Slowly, she propped herself up until she was crouched on her toes, panic-stricken eyes looking between the Weequay and the soldiers gathered at one side of the clearing.

Deathly silence pervaded the area, and no forest-dwelling creature made a noise.

The Weequay's face morphed into one of pure rage and disgust. "You Cursed _bitch!"_ he spat.

None of them even had a second to react; a short, wicked-sharp knife appeared in the man's rough hands, its serrated edge glinting in the moonlight aimed directly at Kiki.

A terrible sense of dread curled and tightened in Jax's stomach, but he wasn't fast enough to move to protect her. "No—!"

Everything was in slow-motion, each horrible scene playing out in vivid detail that he knew would stay with him for the rest of his life. His feet had barely hit the ground by the time the knife was mere centimeters in front of Kiki's stomach.

But it never made contact.

The Weequay flew—straight across the clearing and into a tree with a gut-wrenching thud. Bark and wood split and was nearly crushed under the impact of his head. Dark blood spilled out of his ears and nose, his black eyes barely twitching before his limp body crumpled and fell to the ground.

Jax was barely processing what had transpired; _Kiki had not touched him. _He looked from the dead body to the Cursed woman, gears and pieces finally clicking in his head.

Kiki looked just as surprised as the rest of them, and she _felt_ their astonishment, straight down to her bones and inner core. She was frozen to the spot, fear tethering her legs to the ground and holding her mouth open in a weak attempt to scream. It was Jax's careful step forward and soft call of her name that ripped her from her stone-like state. _Everything_ the clones felt—their cold fear, sickening disbelief, sharp surprise, and their solid need to fill out a duty that pervaded all other thoughts—crashed down on her and twisted up her lungs, barely allowing any air in.

It was her own, fear, ultimately, that stood out to her.

They were going to kill her.

"No…" Her voice was barely a soft whisper, but Kiki was already quickly backing away to the tree line, her heart thudding and ready to jump out of her throat. "No!" She shouted, turned and ran as hard as she could through the bushes and trees.

"Kiki, wait!" Jax yelled, immediately taking off after her. He could hear the others giving chase as well, taking different directions to try and cover as much ground as possible. She was fast, and she knew this forest better than any of them—she could be anywhere and they wouldn't be able to find her for hours, maybe even days. Jax slowed down, his breathing being the only audible thing to him. The wind whispered through the thin, spindly branches covered in new green buds, the branches brushing together and making new noises all their own.

Save for these, it was completely silent in the forest.

There was a short yelp—a woman's voice—that sounded from up ahead, followed by the sound of sticks breaking and snapping underfoot. Jax didn't follow immediately, instead choosing to tread lightly and listen to the sounds of the person moving slowly away from him. He already knew who it was.

Kiki's heart had settled on a flutter-quick pace in her chest, barely expanding before shrinking back again and again and again. She took a moment to press a hand to the gnarled trunk of a tree, letting the cool breeze flow through her hair as innumerable emotions flooded her mind.

Had she lost a family already? The thought settled in her gut and soured like rotten food. Her eyes burned, throat closing to the width of a flower stem. Why was she crying over a family she'd never really had? They wanted her dead, and she'd seen real families before; they didn't try to kill each other. They laughed and played and bought one another gifts. They were happy and never was a member lonely.

_Jax bought you things,_ her inner voice reminded her. _Nice things, things that you _needed_. Nobody else would do that for you._

Maybe Jax was her family?

_They're going to kill you_, the more rational side of her said. _They're soldiers; it's their job. They didn't really care about you._

Kiki couldn't stop her tears from flowing, but she could clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle the sounds of sobbing. Her shoulders shook with each tear, her finger tips biting into the rough bark of the tree she clung to for support.

Branches were pushed out of the way a few meters to her right, an annoyed man's grunt shooting straight into her ears as he tried his best to pick his way through the forest's thick underbrush. Almost instantly, they sped up to a sprinting pace.

They'd found her. And they were going to shoot her and brag about how they'd killed a Cursed bitch and how easy it was. They'd talk and laugh about how she lived in the forest and they made friends with her, fishing and eating together before one of them pulled the trigger. Kiki did nothing to hide her cry of alarm as she tore through the woods in the opposite direction. With a force she didn't know existed, the wind was knocked out her and she fell to the ground, someone's heavy body pinning her down.

"No! Get away from me! _Help!"_ Who was going to help her? The men she'd called family who so badly wanted to kill her? Kiki forced the thoughts out of her mind, instead focusing on doing the same thing to the soldier that she'd done to the Weequay who'd tried to kill her.

Immediately, the weight lifted off of her. The soldier's body—she had yet to identify who it was—hit the ground with a hard thud. He didn't fly nearly as far or hard the Weequay had. Some part of her didn't want to kill him.

"Kiki, stop!" The man lunged forward, recovering from the blow with relative ease. She tried to summon the same thing she'd used before, but all that came out was a small shove, barely enough to deter him as he struggled to tackle her again.

"No! You're going to kill me!" She was shoved to the ground again, and no amount of kicking would get his weight off her.

"Kiki stop—I won't kill you! I promise I'm not going to hurt you!" The man's hands held either side of Kiki's face, forcing her to stop her frantic struggling long enough to get a good look at his features.

It was Jax, with his brown eyes and tan so unlike the Weequay man's. Concern pierced through his dark irises and stirred up more tears from Kiki's eyes.

"Kiki, I'm not going to kill you," he half-whispered. "You're safe with me, Kiki. You're safe." He stood, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her up as well. His hands remained where they were, his eyes meeting hers in the darkness of the forest. "Wait, are you crying?"

Kiki sobbed, the heels of her palms pressing against the flood of tears and hiding much of her face from Jax. "You were going to kill me—" She was so sure of it that nothing would have swayed her otherwise. It was impossible for a Cursed person to ever have a family, especially one with soldiers who had orders to detain her or shoot her on sight.

She believed this until she felt Jax's arms awkwardly embrace her.

His palm pet her head in a stiff downward motion; Jax was used to none of this. "Shh, don't cry…" he said in as cooing a voice as he could muster. "I would never kill you. Never. You're…you've become a sort-of friend to me." Friend? It didn't sound right to him. Something in his chest said that "friend" just wasn't the right word.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Hm?" Kiki's tears had stopped flowing, although her cheeks were still damp.

"Why didn't you tell me you could use the Force?" The Weequay man's death replayed itself over in his mind, and there was no way he could have mistaken it: she'd used the Force, something he thought only Jedi could do, to propel him across the clearing and ultimately kill him.

"Was I meant to?" she murmured.

He supposed not, so he didn't answer. Instead, Jax reveled in the hug he was giving until an alarming thought interrupted his pleasures. Was he meant to be hugging her this long? Was he making it awkward? A small, sour tendril of nervousness curled around his stomach and squeezed it tight. Jax let go with an abruptness that startled Kiki—not all the way, though. His hands were still on her arms, and he was rubbing them almost fondly.

Neither of them noticed.

"Do you want to go back to your…" Place? That sounded like he wanted something, and "home" wasn't exactly the right word either. "…clearing?" he stumbled.

Kiki nodded in silence. Brushing back hairs that clung to her tear-stained cheeks, Kiki wiped her eyes and sniffed. She led the way, disengaging herself from Jax's hands. He followed silently, reviewing the hug in his mind and focusing on not tripping over obvious roots and branches while he did so. It was his first hug (with a woman) and his stomach was doing odd little flip-flops, perhaps more from fear than giddiness. Had he messed it up? He might have squeezed too hard, and he was sure his hands were pressing against something other than a back when he held her. Whatever it—or they—was was hard and bony. Maybe she just wasn't as big as he thought—but it didn't feel like a back.

Jax was ripped out of his daydream when he walked into Kiki. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking into the clearing. The rest of the clones stood there, each man in his own varying state of distress. The body was gone.

"Do you think she'll come back?" It was Marik who spoke up. He stared at the fire pit hard, as if glaring enough would make Kiki appear. "This is probably the only place she knows. Where will she go?"

"Dunno." Edger poked through a few things in the cave, not even bothering to put them back. "She could leave the planet, it'd be better for all of us—"

"Edger!" Marik said sharply. "You need to change the way you think about them."

"Why? Because they have '_feelings'?"_ He scoffed, picking up a plate and tossing it away on the ground. "But then you see those reports of the murders and rapes and robberies they commit. We should just ship them all off to some backwater planet—maybe a sun." He smiled to himself.

Jax took the moment to clear his throat, one hand gently guiding Kiki forward. "I found her," he declared as if he hadn't just heard everything they'd said. "She's safe."

Edger jumped away from the cave as if it'd been on fire. "How long were you standing there?"

Jax ignored him, half guiding and half pushing Kiki into her clearing. "Do you still want us to stay with you?" he asked. "Some of us will keep watch, if you need it."

"Yes please." But Kiki didn't make a move until Edger was nowhere near her cave, on the other side of the clearing. She sat under its stony ceiling and pulled her knees up to her chest. In the cave, she was nearly shrouded in darkness.

"Um..." Marik was still standing in front of the fire pit. "I picked up all the fish I dropped, but we're still missing some. Do you just want to grill these ones?"

Kiki nodded.

Marik began to start a fire, placing small handfuls of dry leaves in the bottom of the pit and layering sticks on top. Kiki had a wire rack that fit neatly over the pit, probably used to hold the lone dented pot she had.

Jax settled himself next to Kiki on the dirt ground, taking the chance to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Will they try to kill me?" she blurted, although softly. She'd had people she thought she could trust turn on her in a split second's notice. She didn't want it happening again.

"No, they won't." Jax would make sure they wouldn't. "I'll protect you Kiki."

Her features remained the same: tired but carefully watching. Kiki absently stared as Marik coaxed flames from the fire pit and placed the sliced-open fish on the grill. Despite how much she appreciated what he was doing, she wasn't sure she was hungry anymore.

_I'll protect you…_

And yet the Weequay man had come after her. Kiki felt out of place placing the blame on Jax, but she wasn't quite sure whether she could trust him yet. He and the rest of the clones were still in a semi-family stance with her; her near-death hadn't been enough to shove them out of that box.

Family with issues, then. Not-quite-there-yet-family.

"Did you know you were always able to use the Force?" The question came out of nowhere. Jax turned his head to look her in the eye, his face a mask or pure seriousness.

"The Force?" The word was vaguely familiar to her. There was a vision of adults telling her what the Force was, in a sun-lit room with other children who each had something unique about them. The image lasted as long as a heartbeat before it faded.

He nodded. "Up until now, I thought only Jedi could use it and that any child who was sensitive to it was taken in." Maybe she was an undiscovered Force-user.

Kiki had _definitely_ heard of the Jedi. She'd never seen one up close, but from what she heard, they were always graceful and wise, and they accepted Cursed people to be Jedi with them. "I always knew," she responded. "I…I think I used to use it more as a child, and then I stopped."

"Why?"

Kiki remained silent.

Jax turned back to the fire Marik was warming his fingers by. Smoke rose gently from the flickering orange flames. A few different vegetables rested near the fish.

"Would I be able to become a Jedi?" Kiki asked, squashing down the bit of misplaced hope in her voice. "I can use the…Force," she said, "would I be able to join them?"

Jax pursed his lips. His face was apologetic, and her stomach immediately sank. "I don't think so, Kiki. You might be too old."

There was an age limit? Her heart sank, opening a hole in her stomach that would be sure to stay with her for the rest of her life. Her one chance to be with a group of people who wouldn't automatically kill her for being Cursed was crushed. "How old should I have been?"

"They're taken when they're babies. The only exception is General Skywalker; he joined when he was nine."

And she was way past nine. Kiki sighed, pushing her fingernails into her knee.

"Are you alright, Kiki?" Jax shifted so he was mostly in front of her. She still had a slight view of the fire where Marik cooked.

Kiki nodded. "I'm fine," she said.

Jax wasn't so sure of that, but he didn't press her. He folded his lips in, building up the nerve to ask her a slightly sensitive question. He could permanently scare her away if he said this incorrectly. "I was thinking that maybe…we'd be able to go out tomorrow? I could show you around the quieter parts of Coruscant and we could…" It took him a moment to realize that she wasn't listening. His heart sank. "U-Uh, Kiki?"

"Hm?" She seemed surprised for a moment, as if she'd forgotten that he was there.

"I was wondering if maybe—I mean since I have off this week, maybe I could, um, get you some food…? You won't have to pay me ba—"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. Perhaps it was the mention of food that swayed her mind so quickly. The small feathers on her arms flared up in delight. "What type of food is it?"

Jax stared a moment, knocked off guard and trying to gather his thoughts. Had she really accepted? He sincerely hoped this wasn't the same trick that the women in the bars sometimes liked to play. "I-I think they have a few. Most of them are fried pastries and meat things. Maybe some noodles."

A wide smile crept onto Kiki's face. "How good is it? Have you had it before?"

"Yeah, it's pretty good, although I just order the same things over and over…" He chuckled. "I think you might like it." Jax's finger tips began to tingle. Was that a date that he'd just asked Kiki out on? Part of him hoped so, but another part was automatically apprehensive; what if he did something stupid and messed it up? He wasn't sure how Kiki reacted to large crowds, but there was no way she would still be here if she didn't occasionally go into the city for food.

"When are we going?" Kiki wondered how many different types of food there were. She automatically wanted to try them all, and her stomach growled in anticipation. She hoped they'd go soon.

"Maybe tomorrow? I'm not sure if I have leave yet. If not then, then maybe in a few days." Jax rubbed the back of his head, not believing that this was actually working.

Kiki looked giddy, eyes twinkling and shining till a sudden thought hit her. Her face fell and she looked down, apprehensive. "Jax, about this place…"

Jax's heart sank. He couldn't help his lips pursing.

"Is it like a fancy restaurant or diner?" she asked. A finger picked at a hole in the leg of her pants. "Cause these clothes are all I have and I don't think they'd—"

"Oh, no no no." Jax's chest loosened with relief. "It's like a stand, sort of, in between two other shops. The one on the right is a small clothing shop. I'm not sure what's on the left."

Kiki sighed, shoulders sagging. "Okay, good." She started smiling again. "I didn't think they would have let me in if I came in these clothes." She looked down at her folded hands. "I…I'm looking forward to this, Jax…"

"Um…I am too." He was. He really_, really_ was. Jax was sure it would be the highlight of his time on leave. "I'm sure you'll like it. A lot of the other guys go there a lot—"

"There's going to be soldiers there?!" Kiki jerked in fear in no particular direction.

"No, no no no—okay, well _maybe_—" Jax flinched. "B-But there might not be a lot them there since most of us are out fighting—"

Kiki was nearly cringing away from him, suddenly closed off to the idea of going out. "I'm sorry, Jax; I can't go."

"But…" Jax's face crashed. He crouched in front of Kiki, staring intently into her frightened purple eyes. "If there _are_ soldiers there," he said softly, "they won't go anywhere near you as long as you don't do anything wrong."

"But I'm Cursed!" she cried. "I heard they had some kind of scanner o-or—"

"That's just a myth. We were told to spread it to try and keep Cursed off the streets." Jax sighed, guilty feeling taking over his chest. It wasn't his fault the Cursed weren't welcome on nearly every planet.

But it was his if this one couldn't get a nice meal every once in a while.

"Are you sure?" Kiki subconsciously pressed herself against the back wall of her small cave, partly to get away from the intensity of Jax's look. "Don't lie to me, Jax."

With a sudden fervor, Jax grabbed Kiki's hands, squeezing her fingers together. "I promise I'm not lying to you, Kiki," he said. "None of them will try to bother you if you're with me."

"Why?"

Jax was suddenly embarrassed, his face ashade with embarrassment. "They, um…might assume you're my date…?" His voice cracked viciously. "O-Or since you're so attractive, my, um…p-prosti—"

"I get the idea." Kiki sighed. "I think I'll come with you to that restaurant."

His heart sang. "You will?" A bright grin was growing on his face before he could stop it.

Kiki returned his smile. "Yes, I will Jax. Can you please let go of my hands?" Her cheeks were tinged a light pink. _He thinks I'm attractive?_ She forced down her smile.

Jax quickly released her fingers, sitting back on his rear. "S-Sorry about that," he muttered.

Kiki only nodded, rubbing her hands together and pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Hey, Jax." Edger stepped over to them, peering down at the pair sitting in the darkness. He refused to look at Kiki. "We have to leave. You ready to go?"

Jax nodded, crawling out of the cave with Kiki close behind him. Edger did nothing to mask his look of disgust.

"If we don't hurry back, we'll be carded for breaking curfew." The others were packing up the mess they'd made, putting out the fire and neatly stacking bowls and utensils beside it.

"You'll visit again?" Kiki's voice was meek, her eyes aimed at the bare dirt ground.

"Of course," Jax said. "Trust me, you're going to like this place—"

"You two are going out?" Edger, bent over the smoking and steaming fire pit, suddenly straightened. He trained his eyes on Kiki. "When?" The question was not stated nicely.

Kiki, sensing his immense displeasure with both her and the future excursion, seemingly shrunk under his scrutinizing gaze. Her stomach went cold. "H-He, uh, J-Jax said—"

"We're just going to a restaurant, Edger." Jax crossed his arms. Kiki didn't notice how close by he'd been until he was able to step between her and Edger.

"A restaurant? With _her?" _He scoffed. "She'd be lucky if they didn't smell her from a kilometer away—"

"_Edger!"_ Jax uncrossed his arms, jabbing a finger into Edger's chest. "What is your problem? What was the point of that?"

Kiki flinched, both at Edger's most likely true comment and Jax's raised voice. She didn't know how she felt about him so quickly jumping to her defense. "I-It's okay, Jax…" she stammered, shoulders crowding around her ears. The feathers on her arms and twisted into her hair started to puff out in anxiety. She tried to force them down as best she could. "H-He might be right—"

"No, he is _not_ right, Kiki." He said it with such intensity that she shrunk away from him, nearly retreating back to her cave. Jax's face immediately softened with regret. "I didn't mean to yell at you; I'm sorry."

"You're sympathizing with one of _them_, Jax," Edger said, his scowl hiding his incredulity. "I remember when you actually saw what they were like—"

Jax's shoulders stiffened. "Edger—"

"You used to agree with me that they were dangerous, Jax!" Edger's voice rose, the volume scaring some birds and making them take flight. Their startled cries were the only things heard other than Jax and Edger's rising argument.

"_Edger—"_

His words drove on. "And now you're hanging out and _feeding_ a hey—"

Cord's voice cut harshly through the slur. "Edger!" With hard, angry steps Cord was by his side and gripping Edger's elbow. He wouldn't let go. "Apologize."

Edger snorted. "Why should I? They don't have feelings—" A small gasp, barely perceptible except of you were standing close to the source, interrupted him. He looked over at Kiki, standing but curling in on herself.

She had tears in her eyes.

She sniffed again, pressed palms roughly into her eyes. "N-No, it's fine…" she sniffed, voice cracking. More tears welled in her eyes and shined in the moonlight. "I-I've been called worse." No, she hadn't. Kiki had never in her life been called anything worse than a heyvan. A heyvan was a demon, a nuisance to society, worse than a curse or murder or rape.

It was believed that if you called a Cursed person heyvan enough, they'd kill themselves and leave society forever.

Cord still held his iron grip on Edger's arm, saying with his eyes what he wouldn't with his mouth. There was complete, heavy silence.

"_Apologize." _Cord said through his teeth. His normally cool grey-and-blue eyes were narrowed with such fierceness that Edger couldn't help but squirm.

A war of guilt and stubborn indignation played itself out on his face before he finally looked away. Eyes narrowed, he cast his glare upon the ground instead of at Kiki. "Sorry," he bit out.

"Look at her and say it," Cord demanded.

Edger met Kiki's eyes and had difficulty holding it. He looked at the trees, everywhere around Kiki. He barely made eye contact. "I'm sorry," he said through gritted teeth. Wrenching his arm out of Cord's grip, he sent the pale-eyed clone a sharp look. "There, you happy now?"

Cord only pursed his lips and headed toward the edge of the clearing.

Kiki folded her lips in, biting down hard and only bringing more tears to her eyes. Did Edger really want her to kill herself? She'd known from the beginning that she couldn't consider him family, not the way she did Marik or Jax, but the bitter hatred from a person who'd gone fishing with her hours earlier was a shock.

And yet, a part of her wasn't surprised. He was a soldier and she was Cursed; she should have been dead by now.

Kiki continued to stand there, shoulders hunched and shaking while she tried her hardest to clear up her tears. Without warning, someone's arms wrapped around her, forcing her fists to her chest and holding them there, pinned.

"Don't cry," Marik said, one hand stroking the back of Kiki's head. A few feathers poked out at random angles from her hair, and he tried his best to smooth them down. "Ignore what he said; none of us want you to get hurt, Kiki." He threw a rather vicious glare at Edger.

Jax stood off to the side, not quite sure what to do with himself. He'd been about to comfort Kiki when Marik swooped in and took his place. Now he watched as Kiki was a stiff rock in Marik's arms, caught between relenting and accepting the comfort and shoving him away.

She looked at him, briefly, before she closed her eyes and nearly sagged against him.

Jax's face wrinkled of its own accord, a small, twisted thing forming in his stomach. How did Marik know whether she was completely comfortable with the hug? Didn't he remember her reaction when they'd first been brought here? Jax huffed, not quite sure about his suddenly sour mood but not entirely discontent with it, either. His frown and pursed lips maintained themselves until he realize that Ratchet was staring. With an embarrassed shuffle, Jax crossed his arms and turned his back on the pair. He could still hear Marik muttering things and Kiki sniffling.

"Shh…don't cry, Kiki," Marik said soothingly. His hand still rubbed her head, and he gently swayed to and fro. His other hand rubbed Kiki's back, noting how oddly bony it felt. "Ignore what Edger said; you're wanted here, Kiki. I don't want you dead—no one does." Lie. Many people wanted her dead without even knowing her, simply because she was Cursed. But Marik figured that it was worth the lie if it meant cheering her up.

Kiki took a deep breath, then another. The inner emotions of everyone around her mingled strangely with her own. Cord was still chastising Edger, and Edger was feeling stubborn and indignant—although a small, dark tendril of guilt was creeping in. Marik was all soothing warmth and Ratchet observed all of them in a very plain, frank and curios neutrality. There was no judgment in him.

Meanwhile, Jax was unnerved; his emotions ranged almost wildly from discomfort, to faint shame, to awkwardness, to something akin to…_jealousy? _

Kiki nearly started from the seemingly random emotion. Why was that there? Was he jealous of _her?_ Did he want to be hugged by Marik? Kiki's lips twitched at the thought. She couldn't blame Jax; Marik gave good hugs.

"You feeling better now? I heard you sigh in a not-sad way," Marik said, his voice slightly muffled by her feathery hair.

Kiki nodded, taking a slow breath. "I'm better now, Marik. Thanks."

He finally let her go, but still kept his hands on her upper arms. With a small squeeze, he smiled. "You sure?"

"Sure."

His smile only widened. "Great." With purpose and surety, he marched to Edger. _"You, _on the other hand," he said in a low whisper, "I need to talk to."

Edger rolled his eyes. "Save your breath; everything you want to say, Cord already did."

Marik scowled but didn't say any more to him. "We might as well head home. Bye Kiki!" He waved.

Kiki gave a bashful wave back, pressing the heel of her palm against her eyes. A breeze blew through the clearing, making her shiver. She was about to return to her little cave when she bumped into Jax. "O-Oh! You're still here." She sniffed. "Is there something you're forgetting?" Kiki's scanned the small area, not seeing anything that didn't belong to her.

"No, um…" He'd thought it would be a good idea to stay behind and try to repeat what Marik had just done, but now that he was standing before Kiki, the whole idea seemed stupid. "I just want you to know that…" Know what?

"Nobody thinks of you like that—we all really like you, Kiki," he rushed out. Without thinking, he grabbed her hand, squeezing her slender fingers. Jax looked down, completely at a loss for what to say. He focused on her uneven fingernails. "You're…you're becoming more of a friend to us, Kiki…a-and…" He swallowed, a nervous prickle beginning in his armpits and running down his sides. Out of complete fear, his hand increased its grip on Kiki's fingers. "J-Just ignore what Edger says," he muttered. "I don't know why he's like that, but…I don't share his feelings about you. None of us do." Jax risked a peak at Kiki.

Her eyes were smiling—and her lips were, too. Her entire face was lit up with a gentle happiness that spread from her lips, to her deep violet eyes, to her freckled cheeks. Subconsciously, Jax noted how his hand was being stroked by her thumb.

"Thank you, Jax," she said softly. The stroking stilled for a moment. "I…" Kiki folded her lips in, a pink blush falling over her cheeks. Her arms encircled his torso, holding him close to her while they stood in the middle of the clearing.

Jax froze, every single thought he'd had up until that moment flitted from his head in a dizzying confusion. A heavy thudding started up somewhere in his chest. Was that normal? He didn't know—he couldn't think.

"Thank you, Jax," Kiki said. "I didn't think you'd still want to hang out with me after everything that's happened." Her mouth was dangerously close to his ear.

Jax arms were still stuck in the air, caught between wrapping around her waist, resting on her hips, or holding her back. What was one normally meant to do in these situations? Jax's mind drew blank. True, he'd held her about an hour earlier, but that hug had been a comfort hug. This was a thank you hug. They were different.

And so, his arms settled on her waist—not entirely platonic, but it would have to do since he felt he'd been standing still for too long.

Kiki took a breath. With slow, deliberate movement, she pulled away from Jax. Brushing her hair from her face, Kiki took a step back. "You should probably get back to your friends," she mumbled.

"Um…yeah," Jax answered absently. He couldn't stop thinking about their brief hug. Kiki was warm. "I'll…I'll see you later, Kiki." He wasn't sure why his face was red, but Jax was positive it was obvious in the near-darkness.

Kiki nodded, grinning again before turning and crawling into her little cave.

_Sorry for being gone for so long. It took me a while to get my writing flow back. There's a poll up on my profile for who's back story you want to read first (out of all the members of Crusade Squad). You can vote for up to two._

_~AAx_


	4. Chapter 4

Sunlight fell gently on the still waters, creating golden ripples and reflecting off the silver fish beneath the surface. A light, warm breeze blew between the trees' new leaves and scattered a few, sending them floating to the brook.

Jax stood, admiring all of it. It wasn't often he got to admire nature without getting shot at or yelled at to duck—he spent most of his time in battle, on other planets that were dusty or bare or made entirely out of carnivorous plants. All of this greenery, this softness that he brushed his fingers against, was new to him. A small blue beetle flitted by his face and he had the sudden urge to catch and admire it. Before he could make a move, however, it buzzed away into a flowery bush.

He continued down the slightly-visible path, now a bit more accustomed to the dozens of roots and branches that crossed the path. He made much less noise than he normally did. Jax continued down the gently sloping path when he heard a splash from the brook. In a fit of curiosity, he skidded down the rest of the slope and came upon the water's edge—and froze.

There was a woman in the water, her back to Jax. She scooped up water and splashed it over her face. Her pale blue skin shone in the sunlight, freckles lining her skin.

Jax spun around and slammed himself against a tree, his face flaming red. Someone was bathing in the brook and he'd been (unintentionally) spying on them. A small, short gasp came from whoever was in the water, and without thinking, he spun to see what had happened.

Kiki broke the surface, her back still to him. Her black hair glistened with water, and it was much longer than he'd thought, much thicker. It stuck out a bit awkwardly at both sides.

Jax covered his mouth with his hand, his face undoubtedly reaching new shades of red. That was _Kiki._

_He'd seen Kiki bathing._

Granted, it was only for a split second, but in that moment he'd seen more than he'd intended or wanted to, and it was the closest he'd been to a naked woman.

Maybe his embarrassment was so strong that Kiki could sense it; she gasped and her gaze bore straight into Jax despite her not being able to see him. "Who's there?" she yelled.

Jax didn't know what to do, so he kept quiet.

Her skills in using the Force had obviously been sharpened since they last met. "Jax? Jax is that you?"

"Kiki I—"

"You were _spying on me?!"_

"N-No I wasn't! I swear—" He stepped out from behind the tree, immediately regretted it as he slipped and tumbled backward down the slope. His booted feet landed in the water, but the rest of him was dry and covered in dirt and leaves.

She shrieked.

"I'm not—I didn't mean to—I'm not a pervert!" said the man currently looking at a naked woman in the water. He hastily closed his eyes and crawled away from the water's edge, settling underneath a bush. "I-I'm sorry!"

"You were spying on me!" she shrieked.

"I-I wasn't, I swear!" How could he make Kiki believe him? He hadn't seen anything besides her shoulders and hair (and face), but there was no way he could _prove_ he wasn't stalking her while she bathed.

There was silence on her end, then the sound of water splashing and someone stepping on the opposite shore. There was an odd shaking noise, like a bird flapping its wings before taking off, but it only lasted a moment.

Kiki called from across the brook: "You can come out now." She was less than pleased, to say the least.

Jax stood, sewing his eyes to his feet and folding his hands in front of him, head hanged in shame. Cheeks ashade with embarrassment, he barely managed to stutter out and apology. "I-I'm sorry Kiki," he said. He wasn't even sure if she could hear him; it was quite a distance. "I promise I wasn't trying to do anything o-or see anything. It was a mistake."

Kiki eyed him from her spot on the other side of the brook. Her senses were telling her that Jax was being honest—he'd actually accidentally seen her in the brook. She looked further and saw that he'd looked away as quickly as possible.

"How much did you see?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Huh? I-I, um, saw your shoulders and hair…" And the things that didn't look like her wavy hair. "A-And part of your arm that was really it." Jax risked a glance up.

She believed him. "You came to take me to that restaurant, right?" Kiki didn't like having to speak to him from across a body of water. "Wait there; I'll come around and we can go."

Jax nodded mutely.

OoOoO

The square was filled to the brim with Coruscanti citizens—Twi'leks, Rodians, Humans, and a mix of dozens of other species. There wasn't much space to move around. A large, circular fountain rose up in the middle, where children and some teens played and splashed water at each other. Nobody dove all the way in.

No Cursed, of course—if there were, they were well hidden.

People walked, and they bought things from the kiosks and small businesses that lined either side of the long, _wide_ pathway dotted occasionally with benches and duracrete tables for eating. An older couple fed each other food at one of these tables.

Kiki clung to Jax's arm, her finger nails digging through his shirt and feet nailed to the ground. Every second she spent in the public was a chance for someone to discover she was Cursed, despite her heavy cloak that covered her feathered arms and recently-plucked face, now down feather free.

Despite all Jax's reassurances that it would be okay, that they wouldn't be out too long, she was still terrified. A man brushed past her shoulder and she almost yelped, biting her tongue hard to prevent any sound from escaping.

"Are you alright?" Jax asked, noting the now painful grip on his arm. "What's wrong?"

"There's too many people," Kiki squeaked. Her wide eyes frantically flicked back and forth, from small children to grown men and women, to the droids that ambled among the crowd. "You didn't tell me there'd be so many people." This was too much. Her paranoia spiked every time a stranger brushed against her arm or back, her stomach tightening with terror at every person she made eye contact with. Each breath was becoming harder and harder to take, and her palms grew damp.

"You'll be fine, Kiki—hey…" He stepped in front of her, effectively blocking the faces of people walking towards them. It only barely calmed her a little. "Nobody here cares about us, or about what we're doing." He disengaged her hand from his arm long enough to place his on her shoulders, slowly massaging them and rubbing her arms up and down. He kept his voice low and soothing, something he knew worked on animals, although he hated to admit it. Kiki wasn't an animal, she was a Cursed person. _Maintain eye contact,_ he reminded himself. _Don't scare her, no sudden movements, and no negative facial expressions. _It normally worked to pacify the woman.

Like he predicted, the small red flecks in her eyes turned gold and blue as her fear was slightly quelled. "We're just gonna get some food—we don't even have to eat it here. We can go back to your place or to the river. Okay?"

Kiki's eyes flicked to a Twi'lek man that walked past them as he loudly spoke into a comm. Although she was tight-lipped and stiff, she nodded. "O-Okay," she said. She shakily met his gaze before forcing it to her feet.

A thin, smoky tendril of guilt curled around his stomach. Jax didn't like having to force Kiki so far out of her comfort zone, and he hadn't taken into consideration what she might have been fine with. The pair likely wouldn't be going out again for a while.

"Come on," he said, offering an arm.

Kiki swallowed and took it, clutching it tightly and standing almost on top of Jax's feet. "Where is it?" she asked, a nervous hand reaching to tug down her hood. It must have been the tenth time she'd readjusted it.

"It's right over here." Jax pointed and lead Kiki to the little noodle shop. Steam rose from the small chimneys in its roof, and the square cloths spelling out "KOSA'S NOODLES" lined the upper part of the shop. There was no place to sit down as it was just a counter and kitchen and the stools in front were taken, so Jax and Kiki stood by the menu while they waited to be called on.

Kiki narrowed her eyes at the menu, which stood to her left on something like an artist's easel. It was a bit worn and grey with dust, but the bright red lettering stood out plainly. She could tell the items were numbered.

"See anything you like?" A Sullustan man said, presumably the chef. His shirt was stained and there were lines on his face, but his dark eyes were smiling. "Y'know, we have a special today."

"I'll have the chinda noodles, please," Jax said. He turned to Kiki: "They're my favorite. What do you want to order?"

"U-Um…"

Jax was confused at Kiki's sudden reluctance to look at him or the menu. "Kiki? Do you just want what I got or—"

"I-I'll have the number five, please!" she blurted hastily.

The man raised a brow. "You sure? They're pretty spicy."

"C-Can I have a number six, then?" She didn't look at the menu. "Please?"

The Sullustan nodded, grinning widely. "Alright, one number six and chinda noodles!" he hollered behind him. "It'll be a few minutes."

Jax offered his arm again and she took it; he led them to the side a bit and leaned against the wall behind the menu. "Do you know what you ordered?"

Kiki dodged his eyes. "Well, noodles, I'm hoping," she answered, trying for humor. She didn't quite make it.

Jax gave her a look but didn't press it.

The Sullustan man leaned over the counter. "Your order's ready!" he said. Two circular containers were sitting in a plastoid bag. He put two forks and some napkins.

Jax paid and took it, leading Kiki over to a recently vacated duracrete table in the middle of the square. Kiki took the side with a small tree to her back. He sat across from her.

"What are chinda noodles?" Kiki asked as Jax passed her a fork.

"They're fried noodles in a sorta sweet sauce, and they're served with nuna." Jax opened the lid to his container. "It's my favorite and I order it every time."

Kiki considered ordering it the next time they went out. She removed the lid to her disposable bowl of noodles and was amazed at how much there was. "Wow…"

"What? Is it not what you wanted?" He wouldn't have been surprised; Kiki had barely looked at the menu when ordering her food.

She continued to stare at the noodles and tried to reign in her shocked face. "No, it's…" She poked it with her fork. "It's just more than I thought it'd be." The food was golden brown, steam curling gently from the noodles. It was served with a side of vegetables and bantha steak slices.

Jax frowned. If the noodles were too much for her, how much was she used to eating day-by-day? Jax wondered if the care packages he sent her as regularly as he could weren't enough.

"B-But I'm not complaining!" she said, and to prove it she ate a forkful of noodles. There was brown sauce around her mouth. "See? It actually tastes better than I thought." She ate more.

Jax laughed. "If you want, we could come here more." He certainly wouldn't have minded it. He enjoyed Kiki's company.

After they finished, Jax threw out the trash and was surprised to see Kiki playing in the fountain water when he got back, and that she had regular hair on her legs instead of feathers. She gently splashed water at smaller children and they screamed with laughter, running away and almost tripping over themselves. In her merriment, she hadn't noticed that her hood had fallen off her head. Her anxiety was temporarily erased.

"Kiki, we have to go now," Jax said. He watched her and the children's faces fall simultaneously.

One of the kids' mothers, a blue-green Twi'lek woman, called to the group. "Bena, we have to go now, too. Say goodbye to the nice woman."

A little boy groaned and pouted. "Bye," he said, obviously upset. He trooped over to his mother and climbed out of the fountain.

Kiki stepped out as well. "This was fun." She smiled, bright and happy. "I'd love to do this again, Jax."

Jax could feel himself getting warm. "M-Me too." He wished they could have stayed longer, but the sun was getting low; the sky was turning a hazy orange and people were beginning to leave.

Kiki pulled her boots on and stood beside him, ready to leave. People milled about her and moved much slower than they did earlier. The conversations were quieter, people were packing up kiosks and closing shops, and the sky was closer to turning purple. Everyone was going home.

What she didn't notice, however, was the strange look the Twi'lek mother was giving her. The woman's eyes were narrowed at Kiki's head.

Jax started walking, unaware of anything. "I think next time we could try this other restaurant—it's on the other side of town, but they have _really _good fried nuna, and—Kiki?" He spun around, his eyes flicking over each face for her. "Kiki, where are—"

She stood nearly in the middle of the path, a vacant look on her face. Her eyes were narrowed, however, muscles tense and shoulders sort of hunched.

_Oh no_. Jax began rushing to her. She was going to do something stupid, or regrettable, or too sudden for anyone to handle. He'd seen that look on her face and knew it could only end in disaster. "Kiki!" he called, pushing between a couple and not pausing to apologize. "Kiki!"

She jerked suddenly, and started sprinting, but not towards Jax. She went in the opposite direction to where a fruit cart piled high with melons as large as a head trundled along the side of the pathway. Its wheels rattled and the rickety cart shook violently. Little Bena and his mother walked by just as it tipped over.

"Watch out!" Kiki screamed. She couldn't make it to them in time, not when she was so far away. Without thinking, she thrust her hands out.

Bena and his mother shrieked when the cart had tipped over and melons toppled over, his mother immediately holding him tight and trying to cover his body with hers, but nothing touched them. Hesitantly, they opened their eyes and saw that the melons—large and hard melons—were floating around them. Only a few had made it to the ground.

Kiki stood hardly a meter from them, her eyes narrowed and brow furrowed in intense concentration. "Move," she ordered, and they did—they scrambled away from the roof of melons and stood well away from them. Kiki only managed to put a few of them back before the rest fell to the ground and splattered.

Jax, who had arrived late, had to push through an awe-struck, cheering crowd in order to get to her. But he couldn't say anything while Bena's mother was thanking Kiki so profusely.

"Thank you so much—"

"No, it's okay, you don't have to thank me—"

"But you saved my son!"

Despite her best efforts, Kiki couldn't force down her embarrassed smile. "It's alright, trust me."

"Are you a Jedi?" Bena asked, staring at his new hero wide-eyed. "Can you teach me how you did that?"

Feeling a bit awkward, Kiki laughed. "No, I'm not a Jedi—and I don't think I'd be able to teach you how I did that."

"Aw…"

Jax reached her before she could be swallowed by the crowd. He could see that her anxiety was starting to spike again. "Come on, let's go." He tugged on her arm and began leading her away. A few people clapped her on the back, but otherwise they weren't stalled.

Bena waved to her back, watching as a sleek, black object fluttered to the ground in front of him. He stooped and picked it up, admiring how shiny and neat it was. "Mommy, look what I found!" He held up the feather like a trophy, presenting it to his mother. "Do you think this was hers?" He'd seen the feathers in her hair when her hood fell off while they were playing, and this one in his hand matched the ones that were on her head.

Bena didn't understand why his mother's smile vanished so quickly, or why—leaving him behind—she rushed forward and grabbed the back of the woman's cloak and yanked, _hard._

Kiki didn't know what to think when he cloak suddenly started choking her, or when the tie snapped and the button popped off with ease.

She didn't think when the little boy's mother stared at her, wide-eyed, and pointed one blue-green, accusing finger at her: "Cursed! She's Cursed!" Her raw instinct took over, even as the crowd surged as one at her and tried to grab her, even when their anger pounded her and Jax's small, drowned out cry of "Kiki!" was lost to the shouts and swears of people with hatred burning in their eyes and hands ready to draw blood, ready to kill her.

She ran.

* * *

_Apologies for taking a while to update this. I'll have to develop the next chapter a bit more, but my updates may be more constant now that summer is almost upon us._

_Review, comment, critique, etc.!_

_~AAx_


	5. Chapter 5

The dark alleys were lit by scorching, bright torches and a few flashlights. Angry footsteps pounded over the cobblestones and people shouted into the darkness.

"Where is she?"

"That damned Cursed bi—"

"They have bounties for the rare ones with feathers."

And worse things.

Jax moved along with the crowd, although with different intentions in mind. He hoped to find Kiki before she could be beaten or murdered in an alley.

With no sense of direction and fueled by its fury, the crowd pushed itself further into alleys and down side streets, more and more people joining on until it was nothing short of a mob—at this point, different groups split off in different directions. The light was divided and the groups headed off, screaming and threatening to do horrible, nauseating things to Kiki once they found her.

Jax's stomach churned and his blood ran cold.

Kiki ran blindly through streets and alleys, rushing past people who either had zero interest in her or would quickly snap their heads up and stare. Her lungs stretched against her ribs and her heart pounded in her chest; she barely felt her feet hitting the ground yet was sure of the pain rising in her heel when she stepped hard on stone.

Voices echoed off the tightly-packed building walls from her left, so she turned right and ran right past one of the smaller groups trying to kill her.

"There she is!" It was a man's voice that pointed her out and she barely collided with one of the group leaders.

Kiki shrieked as a hard, unforgiving hand grabbed her shoulder and almost pulled her toward the mob. With strength she didn't know she possessed, she wrenched her arm free and felt sharp shards of pain spark in her shoulder.

The people's screams rose with her adrenaline and pounded against her eardrums. Terror seeped through her body and made her limbs numb but didn't freeze her throat, which was now raw from all of the screaming she was doing.

"Kill her!"

"Beat her to death!"

Something flew past her head, but she didn't register if it hit her or not. Kiki was blind with fear and tears and running madly through streets she didn't recognize, in a city that would kill her and her kind at the drop of a hat. She couldn't expect anyone to try and help her, let alone the Coruscant police. She knew why neither they nor the army was called.

She was going to die a brutal death.

More blind turns were made. More hands reached out to grab her and more tears streaked down her face. At one point, the groups had converged and turned into a massive, snarling crush of bodies, bloodthirsty and wielding knives and torches.

And here, she'd thought that she'd finally made friends and wouldn't die alone. Jax had shown he _cared_; he hadn't turned her in or killed her on the spot; he gave her food and took her out to eat. He even brought _his_ friends and they all tolerated her.

She'd never see him again, and that made Kiki sob harder. Her legs were going to give out. Her heart was beating so hard it made her head throb. Oxygen refused to flow properly and a splitting cramp formed just under her breast—and then she tripped. "No!" she screamed, scrambling on her hands and knees. The cobblestone ground spun in circles and bit into her hands, bright spots flashing in her eyes and making her stomach turn. She kept crawling forward until her head hit a wall.

Dead end.

On the ground, looking up into the faces of flame-lit strangers, Kiki felt small, worthless, much how the galaxy must have viewed her. She was going to pass out when a pair of hands closed around her throat, something hard hitting her in the gut. Her entire body reacted with a sudden, hard jerk, her head slamming against the wall behind her.

The person with their hands around her neck was trying to drag her forward, toward the waiting knives and fists. Before she even reached them, others rushed ahead and unleashed their fury on her. A hard booted foot slammed into her ribs and she cried out. Her scalp was set ablaze when someone pulled her hair and almost brought her whole body with it. Fists slammed into her face and pounded her head. She tasted blood, warm and metallic.

The entire time, Kiki screamed.

Just before she blacked out, she saw Jax, met his eyes. "H-Help…" Kiki's hand was pale and shaking, covered in grime and dirt, but she still tried to reach out to him. The look of horror on his face was plain and sharp, even as darkness crept around the edges of her vision.

The cold feeling in Jax's stomach spread to his limbs, and suddenly he wasn't feeling anything—he was watching and innocent woman get beaten to death, her hand reaching out to him even though he'd never be able to push through the crowd. He was watching his own hand go the blaster at his side, watching his forefinger squeeze the trigger and a bright green laser haphazardly hit a gutter and knock part of it down with a loud _clang._

The loud _crack_ of the blaster startled everyone. A woman screamed and backed up so hard she knocked violently into another man. It wasn't enough to stop the buzzing running through the people, or to release the hands around Kiki's throat. They all stared at him.

So he fired again, and this time everyone stopped.

Jax pushed through to the front of the crowd. "Let her go!"

The two people standing over Kiki—a Twi'lek and a human male—immediately complied and dropped her. She didn't move, but Jax could see was still breathing, her hands twitching. He didn't let the relief take over just yet.

"We weren't doing anything wrong," a woman at the front said. But her voice was unsteady; she wasn't sure of her own words. Jax realized it was the Twi'lek boy's mother, the one whose life Kiki has saved.

"Murder of a Cursed person is punishable by a fine." He hated the words he was saying. Murdering a Cursed individual was only punishable by a fine, and most of the time it wasn't even paid. He'd seen people go to actual prison for killing pets over murdering an undesirable individual.

"So?" the mother retorted. "She's Cursed! She could have hurt my son!"

"She saved your child!" he roared. Anger burned through Jax's system and sharpened his diction. His heart pounded in a rhythm of fury and he could feel himself begin to shake .Was this any way to thank someone for saving a child's life? "She could have easily let you be crushed by that cart, but instead she saved both you _and_ your son. You _all_ congratulated her and treated her like a hero!"

The woman faltered—guilty. It was on the faces of everyone else in the mob as well. They knew what he was saying made sense, that trying to kill someone right after they saved two lives was a ridiculous thing to do.

"Who says we gotta listen to you?" one man slurred, obviously drunk. He waved a bottle of alcohol around, spilling some on himself and the ground. He took an unsteady step forward. "Yer just one of them soldiers, ay? Come on, I'll pay ya to—"

Jax raised his blaster, aimed it straight at the man's chest. "Take a step back," he ordered, voice chilled. The command resonated with the entire group, and everyone stood back in unison. The people behind him quickly scurried away to try and melt into the crowd. Everyone was scared—and they should have been. He was a soldier; he had the authority.

Heads were bobbing through the crowd—helmeted heads. Jax was going to make an order for everyone to clear the way when one of the soldiers did it for him.

"We are soldiers of the Republic Army. Anyone who's in the way will be arrested! Clear out _now_!" At the front of the handful of troopers was Cord, his blaster raised and barreling past anyone who didn't move quickly enough.

Alarmed cries sprang up in the group. The civilians, barely in the mood for violence now that authorities were here, pressed themselves against the walls of the narrow alley, crushing anyone who was unfortunate enough to be at the edges near the walls. The gravity of what they'd almost accomplished weighed down on each of their heads. A few of them, most likely the ones who'd been carrying broken bottles and screaming the most threats, looked truly apologetic.

Cord removed his helmet to whisper to Jax: "How is she?"

"She's breathing." Jax's concern was palpable. "They almost killed her…" He examined her face, the state she was in, her bruises and bloody, broken, tear-stained face. "How'd you find me?" He didn't remember calling for back up.

"We were called to try and control the mob when Ratchet saw you in the crowd." Cord placed a hand on his shoulder, the maximum amount of comfort he was used to giving. "We'll take her in and figure out what to do from there."

Jax nodded and took a breath. "Alright."

Marik and Edger were barking orders at the civilians who were still hanging around. Slowly, they cleared away and the clones were left with a few drunks and an Aleena who actually lived in the alley.

The Twi'lek woman gave Jax a disgusted look before finally turning away.

With the bright lights of the mob gone, the back alleys of Coruscant became dark and empty. There weren't stars in the sky due to the light pollution from nearby streets. Shadows were twisted around the forms of huddled drunks and sharp turns, often causing someone to go in the wrong direction and get lost. It was not a place one wanted to be at night.

Jax shivered. "Where do we take her? She's injured."

"Technically, we can't take her in unless she's arrested…" Marik stood above Kiki, whose eyes were just barely open. "What should we charge her with?"

"Disrupting the peace?" Edger seemed proud of his joke. He snorts. "Or how about starting a mob and having them chase her through—"

"She didn't start it!" Jax snapped. "She saved two people's lives and they tried to kill her when they saw she had feathers."

Edger only shrugged. "Still, rumors are already flying around about the 'Cursed Jedi'."

Marik's head snapped up. "She's a Jedi?"

"No. She used to Force to save a woman and her child." No one had thought to pick Kiki up yet, so Jax hooked his arms under her armpits and pulled her up. He could hear her breathing, thready and filled with pain. His gut twisted.

Kiki hissed as something was pulled. Her surroundings, despite being dark and shrouded, spun in and out of focus, which only succeeded in making her nauseous. Her sides and head throbbed, her throat raw with the sensation of fiery needles. "J-Jax—" Kiki's voice, thick and heavy, split before she could get anything out. She could still feel the feet pounding into her stomach, the mob's screams and bloodthirsty hands ripping and clawing at her—

Kiki hiccupped, tears stinging her eyes and blurring what little she could see of the alley.

"Kiki!" Marik rushed over and nothing less than yanked her away from Jax. "Kiki, don't cry," he said. His fingers combed through her hair, running from her scalp to the ends. "Can you walk?" He felt her shake her head. "We'll take you somewhere to get you fixed up. Does that sound like a good idea?"

She nodded and began sobbing.

Ratchet put an arm around her waist and helped Marik half-drag, half-walk her out of the alley and down a back street. There were gas lamps that lit the sidewalks, spaced a few meters apart. They cast a hazy bluish glow that made the entire block look like it was on another planet. A small insect flitted by one of the lamps, flying in frantic circles around the bulb cover.

It was quiet save for the steady thrum of speeders on other streets and the occasional blare of a horn.

The clones hurried between houses and apartments until all the buildings became larger businesses and the streets were cleaner and less crowded with trash. There were no more drunks lining the sides of strangers' houses but neat, clean garbage cans and wall-posted restaurant ads.

Edger stopped at a set of double doors to the back of a duracrete building. He quickly punched in a code on the key pad beside the doors and waited for the light to flash green.

"What're we gonna tell the warden?" Marik hissed. "You think we can just—"

"Shut up! I'm thinking," Edger hissed back. "Just get her some medical attention and into a cell."

The doors swung open and the group was met with an imposing man in dark clothing. The warden. He had the expression of a man who'd been through this before and didn't want to go through the script. "Just take her to the infirmary—don't think I didn't know you'd be coming here."

The clones almost collectively hung their heads as they walked past the warden and into the building. Kiki was roused out of her pain-filled daze when the air temperature suddenly changed. She didn't have time register much, but she caught glimpses of offices, clean hallways, doors marked "Authorized Personnel Only", and a few vending machines. She was aware of the tiled floors her feet were dragging against.

They were moving too quickly past too many doors and too many unfamiliar scenes; she was getting dizzy again. She heard someone—maybe Marik—mutter "hang in there" before she closed her eyes again.

And just as quickly, she was thrown onto a hard bed with a thin, nearly flat pillow. Her boots were removed and tossed onto the ground with a heavy thud. The room had white walls, a white ceiling, and likely off-white floors. It wasn't brightly lit and she could see that there were a few other beds in here, along with doors that led to other rooms or closets.

Without warning, a medical droid tried to shine a light in her eyes. She swatted the light away and was instantly strapped to the bed.

"Please, do not try to be aggressive. I am only trying to help," it said in a monotone that was probably meant to be soothing but only succeeded in making her more agitated. "I will run a diagnostics test on you. Please remain still."

Kiki obeyed. She closed her eyes again and tried to focus and making the pain go away. When did her body get so sore? It hurt to breathe and what little she felt of her legs was a tingly sort of numb—but parts of them hurt. The soles of her feet throbbed and her head and neck ached. Her faced hurt, trying to talk hurt, making expressions hurt, _everything hurt. _Involuntarily, she moaned.

"Please remain still," the medical droid said, again with the unsettling tone. "I am running the diagnostics…you have a concussion. A few ribs have been bruised and your throat…"

Someone entwined their fingers with hers while the droid droned on about her sustained injuries and which ones were the most serious. The gloves they wore were softer than she'd thought, the hand warm.

"We'll take care of you," Marik whispered, watching the droid pull out a hypodermic needle. He felt more than saw Kiki stiffen and grip his hand tighter. Perhaps she did not like needles.

"What's it doing?" she murmured. Her swollen lip made it difficult to speak. Despite being concussed her eyes followed every move the droid made.

It answered for her. "This is a mild sedative that will put you to sleep for a few hours—"

Kiki immediately struggled to sit up. "Why do I need to—"

"Your stress levels are rising. You are agitating your injuries. Please remain calm so that I may—"

"No!" she said, her voice rising. The strain made her throat hurt again, but she didn't stop. "Why are you putting me under? Tell m—"

Marik quickly stepped to the other side of the bed, between it and the droid. He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently forced her down again. "Don't worry, it's just to help you sleep better. I'll be here the whole time, I promise." Except he couldn't promise that. He could feel the warden's eyes on him even as he tried to soothe Kiki. He'd likely have to leave the room and explain why they brought a Force-sensitive Cursed homeless woman to his doorstep. It wouldn't be a pretty conversation.

"They do testing on Cursed people." If Kiki could grip Marik's arm and never let go, she would have, but the straps holding her arms down remained fast. "I don't want to be tested, Marik! I—"

Marik knew about the rumors she was referring to, about how some Cursed—the docile ones—never actually went into custody but to facilities where they were treated like animals and invasive experiments were run on them against their consent.

He also knew which ones were true.

"They're not going to run tests on you, Kiki—we don't even have the proper tools for that here." At least that much was true. "I'll be with you; just relax…"

Kiki's eyes flickered between him and the medical droid waiting at his shoulder, thin hypodermic needle waiting. "Alright…" She settled back down and tried not to yelp when the needle was inserted into a vein. Her fingers began to tingle, a soft, steady warmth running through her body, inching along until it reached her head and her vision went blurry around the edges. Drowsiness descended on her without warning, pulling her eyelids down until she fell asleep.

OoOoO

"…all over the news…"

"I know…rumors…

Kiki was floating. She saw nothing, felt nothing, but heard small bits and pieces of conversation. They drifted to her like leaves on the wind, occasionally spinning away so that she would hear them. She was comfortably warm and numb, almost unable to think.

"…can't stay here…"

Stay? What did that mean? Half of her wanted to try and decipher the strange words, but the other wanted sleep…

"Why…saved her…could be helpful, somehow…"

"Helpful? The Jedi…"

Jedi…She knew who the Jedi were. They protected people. They could move things with their minds and wore funny clothes.

"Want to see her…mentioned…"

"…can't do that…would have found her…years…"

Too many chunks were missing. If she tried any harder to figure out what was being said, she'd wake up and she didn't want that.

So she let the warmth, the darkness, cloud her mind again.

* * *

_It's been a while since I last updated! Hopefully, the length of this chapter will tide you guys over for a bit. If anything's in present tense, please tell me. I was writing parts in present tense before I realized this was meant to be the opposite._

_Until next time!_

_~AAx_


	6. Chapter 6

Bits and pieces of conversation floated to Kiki. Her mind was heavy, thick with a strange dull pain and whatever drugs they'd given her to put her to sleep.

A deep voice—a man's—murmured something outside of her hearing. It was warbled as if he were speaking through something.

Kiki tried to swallow and found her throat dryer and rougher than rock. Her muscles were nearly numb and heavy and when she tried to move she found it only made her drowsier.

There were more voices now, maybe two or three. Two of them spoke at once before the third, the man's, cut them both off. "She's waking up," he said.

She was. Her vision cleared at an agonizingly slow pace, and the first thing she noticed was that she was on a cot and not in the medbay anymore. There was a strange orange glow on everything and, as her eyes cleared, Kiki realized there was a toilet right across from her.

The floors were duracrete and the walls metal. She was in a cell.

_A cell? _The words felt thick even though she was thinking them. Kiki sat up, feeling the tightness of bandages all over her body. The room tilted and she braced herself on the cot's edge. She didn't have the energy to swing her legs over the side of the bed, not yet.

The orange glow flickered away, leaving her surroundings in morose greys and blacks. One of the people outside her cell walked in—a human male, she realized—and Kiki felt like she got a face full of cold water. Something about him was…unnaturally calm. She sensed more than saw a slowly spinning orb, thin wisps of white and blue swirling around it. Despite everything around it, the glowing yet fiery orange emanating off of one of the people outside the cell and the hectic purple of the other, the man was motionless. How did he not react to all of the colors and textures? Did he not see them the way she did? Was he able to just ignore them?

Something poked her. With a flopping hand, she swiped at her head, but the poking feeling insisted. She rubbed her head again and realized it wasn't anything physical.

"Stop that," she demanded, opening her eyes and glaring at the man. The poking turned into digging. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" he asked, but she knew he knew. There was an aggravating smugness in his muddy green eyes that only made Kiki angrier.

"That thing you're doing! Stop poking inside my head!" She fully sat up and braces her feet on the ground, her drowsiness evaporated. "You're not going to get anything." The violent digging softened back to poking, but it was not gentle.

"So you can feel what I'm doing?" the man asked. His hands were behind his back, hanging sleeves making his arms look wider than they actually were.

"Stop it," she growled. The poking sensation all over her head was prompting her headache to return with a vengeance.

"Uh, Master Jedi, sir…" someone by the door stammered, "You gotta remember she's Cursed—"

"I know what I'm doing." The Jedi didn't snap, but anyone could hear the command in his voice. He looked at Kiki. "You caused quite a commotion two days ago—running through alleys and streets and bringing hundreds of people down on your back."

_Two days ago?_ Kiki's mind drew a momentary blank before everything—the emotions, the pain, the _fear_—crashed down on her again and she had to force herself not to double over when her stomach twisted. "I saved a woman and her child."

"Do you think they care?" The Jedi tipped his head and the poking lessened, just a bit. "Everyone is more worried about the Force-sensitive Cursed woman they think the Jedi had abandoned—"

"I saved their lives," she said to herself, her eyes falling down to his plain brown boots. "I saved them…"

The Jedi rambled on about something, problems and bad publicity and training opportunities, but Kiki could only feel, only _hear_, that incessant poking that ran in circles in her mind. She knew asking him wouldn't make him stop, just make him study her more and poke more. The pain and terror she felt that night was building up inside her, bulging and billowing like wind under a sheet. It mixed with the burning rain of fury that heated her blood and made her want to break the walls that kept her in. She couldn't contain it.

So Kiki let go.

The Jedi stumbled back as if physically wounded, one hand clutching his head as he stared at Kiki in open shock. "How did you—" He couldn't quickly regain his composure because he was feeling everything Kiki was, all of the negativity that had been building up for her twenty or so years of life. However, he shook his head and tucked a few black-and-silver strands of hair away from his face. "You are stronger than I thought."

Kiki's face remained unchanged, unamused. Her stomach growled. When was the last time she'd eaten, or had water? The dryness of her throat and the rough pain it brought when she tried to clear it brought tears to her eyes.

"There is food at the Jedi Temple, as long as you come with me," he said, his muddy green eyes studying her. "They will accept you, despite your…" He paused. "_Condition. _We are not above training Cursed men and women."

Kiki's hear stopped, her fingers turning to ice. Was he lying? Was this an actual offer to train with the Jedi? Although she wasn't the best at it, she searched him in the Force and found nothing. He gave no tells as far as she could see. She was going to say yes when she remembered. "I'm too old," she said, hiding her disappointment. "You would have had to take me when I was a baby."

"We will make an exception in your case," he said. "You are not the first unique case to the Jedi."

Kiki could have food every day. She'd have water and shelter and meet other people like her who weren't broken, bitter, or already dead. She could learn to use the Force in ways that weren't purely defensive and the result of outbursts. _She wouldn't be alone_. Kiki looked from the Jedi to the doorway where the other two people were standing, but from her angle she couldn't see them.

"There is the option of living in your cave in the forest or coming to a place where you will be accepted for what you are and trained to be a better person. Do you want to train to be a Jedi?" he asked, one dark eyebrow raised.

The cot was suddenly very hard under her. Her fingers, dirty and scarred from years of living in dirt, gripped the stark grey sheets.

Kiki nodded. "Yes."

* * *

_Short chapter, but this is the main turning point of the story._

_~AAx_


End file.
